Doc Rivers to coach Los Angeles Clippers

Jun. 24, 2013
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by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

The evolution of the new-age Los Angeles Clippers continued Sunday, when they landed the coach they hope takes them to the next level on the Western Conference totem pole.

Again.

It didn't start with Doc Rivers' agreement to leave the Boston Celtics and join the Clippers in exchange for an unprotected 2015 first-round draft pick, a move that will pay Rivers about $21 million for his next three years of service and all but guarantees that free agent-to-be Chris Paul will return. A person with knowledge of the deal confirmed it to USA TODAY Sports but spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced.

This Clippers' new look began with the way Paul arrived, a trade from the New Orleans Hornets in December2011 that was seen by Paul as a preferred deal as compared with the Hornets-Los Angeles Lakers trade that had been vetoed by the NBA days earlier. Though the Lakers retain local supremacy in terms of support, the Clippers - who welcome a coach seen as one of the game's best after winning a title in Boston in 2008 - are on the verge of the sort of stability and credibility their in-city rivals lack these days.

Dwight Howard remains unsure where he wants to play next season, and the Lakers' first-round playoff sweep by the San Antonio Spurs hardly helped his deliberation.

So even with the in-house disappointment that came with the upset vs. the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, the surreal reality for the Clippers and owner Donald Sterling is they are a destination point. Rivers wanted to be there rather than rebuild in Boston. His hopes of bringing Kevin Garnett with him were dashed when the NBA said a coach couldn't be attached to a player as part of a trade, forcing the Clippers to choose one or the other.